Clipped wings
by Shadowed Chaos
Summary: Fallen Soldiers series, Dystopia tie-in; Starscream, then and now and what happened to his trine. Starscream would like his past to have lasted forever. It was the best time of his life. (Major Character Death inside)


Direct tie-in with Dystopia chapter 6. Only thing I own is Twinweaver.

* * *

**Vos; So called Golden Age.**  
Windsheer's heir was _born_ to rule the skies as his form twisted and turned, shrieking in victory as he burned though dance partner after dance partner and left them in the dust. No-one could match him and like his sire before him, he lived up to the title of Lord of the Skies. Only the fastest of the Seekers could rule, only the strongest and most wilful were named winglord for only a powerful spark could command the Seekers and bear the rigours of Rule. The Seeker Prince showed the promise that would one day allow him to claim the Right from his sire.  
It was a sight to watch and only those strong (and stubborn) enough in spark could hope to be his wingmates.

Thundercracker watched the dancers in the air, wistful smile on his face. He wished he could join them, celebrate the Festival of the Skies, but he was lower class and this skydance was only for nobility or the favoured and invited. To interfere now was to risk having his wings clipped for an orn or more as punishment.

The trader didn't mind. It was _tradition_ that the upper classes danced first at the festivals and this one was _special_. It marked the Prince's third megavorn of life.

"He's pretty, isn't he?"

"Yes." The blue Seeker glanced back at the purple and black. Like him, Skywarp was lower class but he'd been invited to take part in the higher class dances this festival due to his talent at skydancing. Skywarp had declined politely, saying he didn't want to dance without his wingmate. Thundercracker thought it sweet but it hadn't stopped him from berating the air-artist though. Joining in the dancers would have been the chance of a lifetime and his wingmate had declined because Thundercracker hadn't been invited. Stupid, but that _was_ Skywarp.

Something buzzed them and Thundercracker's optics widened when he realised it'd been the Prince who now wheeled over them in a blatant dare to the lower classes to try and catch him. Optics flickered to Skywarp -

And they were in the air, transforming soon after as the shot after him, determined to last as long as they could against the Prince. They didn't expect to last more than a breem at best, but it would be exciting, thrilling and an honour to brush wings with Windsheer's heir and they would last as long as they could against such superiority.

_Twenty-seven_ breems later, they were _still_ on his tail, twisting and turning, flying against and with and then against then finally _in sync_ as they pulled off moves that only a _trine_ would dare. Somehow, against the odds, they flew as a trine would. But Thundercracker wasn't thinking about that. He just enjoyed the trill of proving himself, of showing off what he could do. He didn't think he was trine worthy for anyone. He was graceless compared to how Skywarp and the Prince danced. They were _magnificent_ to those watching on the ground.

A twist here a bend there then corkscrewing the air - it was like spark-interfacing in the air then suddenly they were along side him for almost bream before they fell into the triangle and then the Prince lead them though a series of loops before bringing them out into a dive, only pulling up at the last minute to transform -

They hovered, the Prince of the Seekers smirking in triumph, thrusters and wings and shrieks proclaiming to the assembled that they - he and Skywarp were _his_ and Thundercracker _stalled_ in shock.

No.

_No way_. He was _not_ worthy. He was just a small time trader who was content with his lot in life and this -

"Designations?" The Prince's voice jolted him in to reality.

"Skywarp. The big lug who's processor you have broken is Thundercracker." Skywarp grinned, taking this all in stride, as if the glitch had known. Knowing the teleporter, he likely _did_ due to his uncanny ability to just _know_ the right time to prank or the right time to show off in the air.

"Starscream." The Prince extended his hands. Expectant.

Thundercracker took one in a daze as they landed. "I am not worthy -"

"If you were not worthy," Starscream started, voice rich, melodiously luring them in with just words. He was he wingleader, there was no denying _that_. "Then you would have _fallen to the side_ like so many before you. No. You kept up with me, you _proved_ yourselves worthy to ride my slipstream. Now, come."

Thundercracker followed after him meekly, hand twining with Skywarp's as they shared a look – a second later it was twinning with Starscream's as he lead them through the crowds, wings hiked high with possessiveness.

Somehow, they'd just shot up to nobility and become the Prince's trinemates. Not unheard of, but... _why_ them? He couldn't think of anything that would answer and he wasn't to sure that asking the Prince would yield answers. Perhaps later.

* * *

_**Nebulos, near the end of the Great War:**_

White hot agony lanced his spark, ripped though him like wildfire and threatened to tear him in three. Around him, the world ceased to exist in that single klik as he fought to hold onto his trinemates, to the only things that mattered in a world gone mad. To the things that made a Seeker a Seeker.

::_THUNDERCRACKER! SKYWARP!_ _**NO!**_::

:: _... Sorry, 'screamer._.::

Nono_no__**no**__!_

::_I won't __**allow**__ you to go!_:: He clung frantically to fast fading presences of trinemates, grip on sanity losing it as they faded...

Starscream stalled before shooting right up, as if _that_ would take the _sheer agony_ away from him. It did _nothing_, not even lessened it a fraction. If anything, it only made him aware of just how utterly _alone_ he was now. Seekers _lived_ by threes. It was a way of life, of existence for them and a lone Seeker was _nothing_. **_No-one_**.

A lone Seeker who survived the loss of trinemates was unheard of.

A terrifying, piercing scream of pure agony and soul crushing despair ripped across the battlefield that everyone, Seeker and non-Seeker alike stopped and stared as the Vosian Prince wheeled across the sky before diving, heading right towards those that _dared_ take his most precious things away.

The Aerialbots scattered before he even reached his target - the Seeker thought he saw Vortex jump onto one of them - Not that it mattered. He honed in on one of the Autobot fliers, a pretty red and blue thing and opened fire with a shriek of rage. Once she was riddled with holes, the Prince peeled off, joining his Seekers as they tore up the battlefield, led on by madness and rage and pain.

Any Autobot who did not flee that day **_died_**.

And once the battle was over Starscream allowed himself to stall and drop into a corkscrew dive, aiming to take himself offline. There was little reason to live after the loss of his trine. Very few Seekers surived the loss of one member and those that did were but rusted, broken shells of who they once were. They were nobodies. No Seeker lived though the loss of both.

He was vaguely aware of his Seekers calling his name, of the fact he had no heir to challenge for leadership of the Seekers. That as the last of the royal line, he was pulling a stunt that could - _would_ - doom Vos as a whole. He didn't care. Dire proximity warnings wrote themselves across his HUD as the ground approuched and he smiled bitterly, not even trying to pull up.

Death would be a release.

* * *

_**Two megacycles later. **_

Starscream groaned as he came to, optics rezzing against the too bright lights of medbay -

"**_NO_**!" His panicked cry alerted nearby medics who swarmed. Starscream struggled against the restraints, even as he saw his own people: Seekers, Vosians - his loyal subjects. His intakes hitched in a sob as he looked for those programs. The inbuilt ones in every spark. The ones that allowed Suicide. He flicked them on, feeling the program run its course as optics dimmed.

He smiled. Finally...

Then rezz up again in defiance as his HUD scrolled though the boot up processes all over again, like something was keeping him _alive_. Starscream snarled and tried again and again, but each time it was he same. The programs would run their course, take him to the cusp but then something would drag him back. It had to be the medics; it had to be his people. "_LET ME DIE!_"

"Sir... We're not...?" The medic - a snowy white and red flier built along the lines of assault troops - blinked, then blinked, again, looking at the readouts before turning to another mech. Starscream followed with his head, jerking back when he saw the pure gold form of Sunstorm, one of the Seeker priests. Insane priest who was a clone of the Seeker Prince, created by Jhiaxus back when the Prince had been a youngling and they still lived on Cybertron. Sunstorm's trinemates - Overcast and Twinweaver - hovered nearby.

An insane mech. They were looking to an insane mech who caught _fire_ every time he channelled Primus?

_What was __**wrong**__ with his people_?

As if sensing his Prince's ire, the golden one bowed his helm and shook it. "I am unable to divulge tha -"

"Divulge _what_?"

Everyone flinched in the room at the unspoken threat in his voice. Starscream did not _care_.

"Primus hath chosen your spark for the greatest gift, my lord."

"Sunstorm. I am not a seer. Now, either speak plainly or find yourself mute!" By his claws. Somehow. He'd find a way.

"Thy spark is immortal, my lord."

Starscream stared. "...Immortal? Then my trine -"

Sunstorm shook his head and for the second time in as many megacycles, Starscream's world _ceased to exist_ as reality took over in the most painful and sparkbreaking away.

His shriek of rage and denial wasn't only vocal, but carried in his field as well and the medics flinched back, helms bowed in supplication. It wasn't enough. They knew it wouldn't be enough, but they also knew their Prince. He'd find away to survive, to bring vengeance against the ones who'd robed him of his trine, of his support. Robbed him of what made a Seeker a Seeker.

"_MEGATRON! I WILL SEE HIM __**DEAD**__ FOR THIS_."

* * *

**_Now:_**  
He knew it was only a matter of time before Megatron came after him, unwilling to lose the only thing that kept the vast majority of Seekers loyal to the tyrant. Starscream didn't care or mind. He was done playing the lackey to the tyrant. The promise of retaking Cybertron was empty words and the Seeker Prince had no use for any ally who gave nothing in return. To say nothing of the shattering of his trine, something that Megatron was ultimately responsible for; he'd given the orders to take to the field that megacycle.

So, after orns of deliberation and planning, he'd turned his attention to his scattered labs, roped in a few Seeker scientists and started working on clones. Most of then were failures after a fashion. The pair he'd sent to Earth about a megacycle ago had proved as such.

These five would not.

Only a few lines of coding separated them from the rest of the drones, but they were useful and would be his key to revenge.

He just wished they'd chosen _other _names.

The sycophant was Sunstorm. At least it wasn't like the insane priest who'd gotten himself blown up. Ironic, given what happened to the last clone coloured like him.

The female had smirked; barrel rolled then named herself Dirge. If she'd been attractive before, she wasn't _now_.

The white one had called himself Ramjet then denied it.

The coward was Skywarp. The one with an ego that rivalled his was Thundercracker.

_They_ were _nothing_ like the mechs he'd trined with and the mere idea that _clones_ would _dare_ assume those names was **blasphemy** yet they _dared_. They even went so far as to fly as a trine with him, dared to ride his slipstream, to consider them selves _worthy_ of the honour.

No-one was.

No one would **_ever_** be again.

/-/  
Continued in Dystopia chapter 6.

Note on the female Starscream's name: when I orginally planned Dystopia, she _didn't_ have a canon name. Plus I have already established Slipstream with a differant role further down in the verse.


End file.
